Supreme Spider-Man
by CaioOP1985
Summary: For 25 years, the world forgot what heroes are. It's time to remind them of it.


'Captain Stacy!' One of the many officers looked a bit nervous when he spoke. 'We have a… situation.'

'I'm busy right now, Phil.' The captain couldn't even take a look out of her papers. 'Another robbery using high tech. If we don't solve this quickly, the federals will take it from us.'

'It's… Walker.' He didn't have to say a single word after that.

The Captain was already past fifty, with thirty years in the force behind the title, with many of them during the Heroic Age, before Stamford. The captain met many of the greatest heroes of the past, from Daredevil to Captain America, but from the last twenty-five years they were gone. Aside from the Supremes, none of them could act because of the Stamford Act.

'Two weeks.' Entering the room where the young man was being kept with two cups of coffee, the Captain looked tired as he handed one to him.

'What happens in two weeks?'

'No, that's the time I haven't seen you around here.' Sipping the coffee and staring at him with grave eyes. 'How many times are we going to keep dancing this song, Nate?'

'This time I asked permission to do it!'

'Did you now? The angry guy at the front desk filing a report disagrees.'

'I asked his wife a week ago, showed her a sketch with the ideas of what I would do with the wall and even said at which time I would come! It's not my fault that she apparently didn't say a word to him, for fuck's sake.'

'Language.' Crossing legs, Captain Stacy kept looking at Nathaniel Walker with tired eyes. 'Let's hope that she convinces him to drop the charges of vandalism against you.'

'Great, just great!' He sipped his coffee in silence for a while.

'If that happens, we can't release you until your legal guardian comes.'

'Then you should be preparing a bed and a pillow, because I'll need to live here for eternity.' The captain knew of that very well. 'Senator Walker is at Washington and she won't ever come here, not for me.'

'Still that bad, hum?' A sigh was released.

'And how's the daughter?'

'The same.' Sipping coffee in order to not talk was a relief. 'Still living with her my mother.'

'Gwen can be hard at times.'

'That's putting it lightly.' Talking with him always improved the mood, even if just a bit. 'How's Sam?'

'Doing good. Working hard too, you know? She wants to go to ESU after graduation, so…'

'And you? Any plans?'

'The senator wants me to go to Harvard, Princeton or the MIT.'

'You have the brains.' Despite his looks, Nathan had a genius-level intellect. 'But you don't want that, do you?'

'What I don't want is having him deciding my future. He can have the other three as his puppets, but I won't dance so obediently to his strings.'

'Always the rebel.' A faint smile adorned the captain's face. 'You remind me of yourself at your age.'

'And look where you got yourself: Captain Anna Stacy of the NYPD.'

'You know how I always hear that it's in the blood? My mother Jill and my grandfather George were in the force too.'

'And what you were before?'

'Bakers.' She never ceased to amuse herself at his expressions. 'I still have the recipe book of the family, you know? My aunt was the last one who added stuff before me, since my mother was always a terrible cook.'

'I know that for myself, thank you very much.'

'Captain.' A police officer entered the room. 'The rude dude took off the charges.'

'Did his wife confirm my story?' Nathan spoke before Anna could even react properly.

'Something like that.'

'Dodged a bullet there, kiddo.' She patted his head with enthusiasm. 'Next time, get yourself a written permission.'

'I'm seventeen already, Anna.'

Yeah, he was that old already, thought Anna as some inner sadness filled her. To her, Nathan would always be that young child who would sit at her lap while looking at old pictures she had from the Heroic Age. Some of the same childish innocence of his youth kept dwelling at his eyes, but a lot was lost over the years. Ever since her daughter went to live with Jill, Anna would go back home to an empty house every night…

'Hey, want to go and grab dinner?'

'You sure?' She thought of the bank robberies.

'It's been a while since we did it.' Heating her brain over it wouldn't solve anything and she would lose the case over to the FBI anyway. 'Chinese or Italian?'

They went for Turkish at the end.

* * *

'You didn't have to pay my part, you know?' Nathan seemed satisfied.

'Let me act as the adult sometimes.'

Despite acting childish with his graffiti from time to time, Nathan was a very serious person. Gwen once told her how he had some difficulty at interacting with people, tending to close himself at his own world. His notebooks were filled with many different things, from scientific ideas to sketches for new paintings. She could never truly understand geniuses.

'This one's yours?' She pointed to a wall where the picture of a dog sitting at the toilet with a newspaper was.

'That's just a simple stencil, but yeah.' He pointed to the top of the dog. 'See that? It's like my signature.'

'The Spider, right?' That's how he was known across the streets of the Brooklyn, at least his works. 'And even if it's a simple one, it's impressive the same way.'

'I can do one of those in just a few minutes. But pieces take too much time to simply do it for fun. And it doesn't help that when I do it right, something always happen.' He was sulky at it.

'Have you ever thought of doing it as a professional?'

'Yes. However there's the issue of very few ever making some money or living decently out of it alone. It's a harsh world out there, this one in particular.'

'True.' Sooner than she thought they reached the point of separation.

'See you.' He lowered his head a little bit before going to the right.

'Nathan.' He turned around at her words. 'You should go see Gwen now and then.'

'Nah, I'm sure she wouldn't like that. She hates me, remember?' He laughed at the comment before putting a serious face. 'Jokes aside, I don't think she has forgiven me yet.'

'Just try.' And then he went away from her.

Once again the apartment felt cold and empty without the usual sight of Gwen sitting on the couch and typing on her phone. She would get up and greet Anna, her blue eyes just like hers shining under the artificial light of the lamps. She was a living image of Anna in her teens and of her great-aunt Gwen, her namesake.

The pictures at the living room caught her eyes once she took a bath and changed her clothes. The one on the left was the visit to the zoo that she, Gwen and Nathan had almost ten years before. The one on the right Showed Anna and Jill with a baby Gwen with Anna's old partner from the force Isabela, Nathan's mother, and the little boy at her lap.

The one at the center was the one attracting her eyes, a very old and yellowish picture of a picnic at the central park from over forty years before. In there, a young Anna was wearing a light summer dress in the arms of a woman just like her in her twenties: Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy, her aunt who died only a few weeks after the picture was taken by falling from the George Washington Bridge. There was also a man at her side, smiling at the camera with a great bright at his young hazel eyes. That smile waned over the years, rarely appearing in the occasions she met the man.

'You are getting better at sneaking around.' She turned around and faced the older man in front of her. 'Hello, Peter.'

* * *

Like always, no one greeted him when he crossed the hallway of the spacious house. Not that the place lacked people to do it, since all of his three half-siblings were at the living room with their mother. She took a quick glance at his sister entertaining them of her story about how she proved her apparent superiority to another girl. That almost made Nathan puke.

His room was his one true sanctuary, a place where no one dared to enter. Not for respect (which they never had) or for not trying (they nearly broke the door once), but because the young man tempered with it himself. The hinges were in place by a very strong magnetic force and the only way to undo it was by tearing the wall open, installed in the month everyone went to somewhere in Caribbean for a month. There was no actual handle, just a very sophisticate lock that needed his fingerprint, voice and pupils to open the door. The door itself was reinforced with a resin he created that made her nearly unbreakable. If he wanted, he could make great money out of those things, but only after he turns eighteen.

Mixing a working lab and a bedroom, the place was an organized mess, with half of it serving as a lab and the other half filled with books, Legos and personal things. He checked his computer (assembled by himself) and saw that his best friend Sam was online, so he started a talk with her.

'Hey Samantha, how you doing in our first day of summer vacations?'

'Don't call me Samantha! Makes me feel old.' The Japanese girl on the other side of the screen spoke. 'Are you using your Google Glass?'

'I will stop calling you Samantha when you stop calling this Google Glass. Deal?' It was more like Hololens anyway.

'Better than "Amazing Lens 2000", that's for sure.'

'The 2000 is what adds the extra spice to it.' The images flickered for a little bit. 'Just a sec… this part should go there and… done.'

'When you make your presentations to the world, let me take care of the clothes. Jeans and a turtleneck won't ever make it.'

'Respect the classics, Sam.'

'Not those classics. Anyway, what exactly are you doing?' She could see what the camera of the glasses was showing.

'Just my latest project.' He was tempering with it. 'Trying to replicate Spider-Man's web-shooters.'

'For real? Don't you have better things to do?'

'My dear Sam, not just figuring out how to make the web could potentially make me filthy rich, it would be pretty cool to have those, don't you think?'

'And how is that going for you?'

'Bad.' Hints of frustration were appearing at his voice. 'Peter Parker was a bloody genius to have done that when he was sixteen.'

'You make a lot of impressive stuff too.'

'I'm not Spider-Man.' And would never truly be.

'Changing the subject just a bit, can you take a look at something?' Before he could answer, she got up and started undressing.

'You know I don't mind seeing you half-naked, I actually quite enjoy it, but I hope it's something else you want to show, since I already know that view.'

'Stupid.' She didn't sound angry though. 'Here.'

'Goth-Lolita is always a win in my book.'

'Thank you very much.' The same way Nathan tempered with spray cans and science, Sam did with clothes. 'Oh crap, gotta go. If mom sees me in this, she will whip my back clean!'

'How come your fanatically religious mom never found out about her daughter wanting to be a fashion designer and having a girlfriend is beyond me.'

'Don't forget the part of showing more the skin beyond the knee to a boy.' She smiled before going away.

'See you later too, Sam.'

* * *

The old man changed the small sign to "Closed" as he locked the door to the boxing gym. He had passed seventy already, but few could tell aside from his white hair, as he had the build of a much younger man. Constant train could do that to you at an increasing cost every day.

He could sense the person entering the place as soon as he got at the window. In fact, the old man was following the newcomer from several blocks with his sharp hearing, smelling the blood and alcohol from the sealed wounds. Even with his eyes unable to grasp light for over sixty years, he went to the second floor where he lived in a small apartment and picked a bottle and two glasses.

'Figured you would come here.' The man was already sitting at the desk. 'Good to see you alive, Peter.'

'It's good to see that the FBI gave up on watching over your every move.'

'It was fun to see they try to not alert me of their presence.' Matt Murdock sat down and served a generous bit of whiskey at each glass. 'So, what was this time?'

'Kingpin's men. I'm getting slower with age Matty.' Peter touched the spot where the knife entered his flesh. 'Also weaker and the Spider-Sense hasn't felt right for a while now.'

'That comes to us all.'

'Your senses only got stronger over the years. Didn't you say you could "hear colors" once?'

'I can hear the minor frequencies of each separate color and use my memories from the distant past to piece everything together, yeah.' Both started to sip at the drink. 'Funny…'

'What is?'

'Soon it will be nearly fifty years since we met. I was just digesting how many things happened in that time.'

'Fifty years… God, feels like another life.'

'I can still remember hearing on the radio about a man dressed in blue and red swinging around the city and saving the little people. The Fantastic Four and the Supremes were like gods to the normal humans, but you showed us a new way to help people.'

'When you think it's been twenty-five years since the Stamford Act and… since Mary Jane.' They sipped in silence for a long time. 'She would be sixty-three now.'

'Yeah… I'm aware.'

'May would be thirty-eight. Gwen would be thirty and little Ben would be twenty-six. They would have their own families to raise and one day I would die surrounded by all of them. Or fighting one of my enemies, most likely.'

'…'

'Luke and Jess are in Florida, enjoying their lives. Orson is back to kung fu kingdom. Jess II had a child and is now a grandmother. Marc kept doing what we used to, just like me and a few others.'

'We live in a world where super-powered people are unnecessary. With all the mutants of the world being sent to the nation of Genosha after the Uprising and other individuals seized by the government to work on the Supremes Initiative or arrested, things have changed.'

'Yeah, I'm aware of the ever so popular theory that our presence created the villains we aimed to stop. I think that's a load of crap, even when they apparently disappeared after most of us retired. They just went to the shadows, where they became even more dangerous.'

'Or they were locked up.'

'Maybe.'

'But that's not why you came here, is it?' Murdock moved his head to look at the man. 'What troubles you?'

'Can't I come just to drink with a friend, one of the few I have left?'

'Nothing stopping you there. But considering you are a vigilante wanted by the feds for over twenty years of breaking the Stamford Act, a very strong reason would be needed for you to appear here.' Several minutes of tense silence followed that and only after filling the glasses again Peter spoke.

'Few weeks back, I was walking at the ceiling without noticing, something that became a habit over the years, when I suddenly fell. I was able to land safely, but I became surprised of it happening. Few days later, I was lifting a garbage can when I felt my arms on fire and dropped the thing. That was when I realized my powers were acting weird for sure.'

'And?'

'I went to every doctor I trusted and they all said I was the definition of health. After two more occasions where that happened, one for several hours, I went to see Reed.'

'It's a wonder you could find him when no one is able to.'

'He owed me a couple favors. Anyway, he made a ton of exams on me and called Stephen for a second opinion.'

'Interesting choice, being Reed and all.'

'And both did more tests and came to a single conclusion: my powers are disappearing.'

'May I ask how?'

'I did notice I wasn't as strong, fast and that my spider-sense was getting weaker, but I always believed it was the result of aging. Apparently, the spider totem who gave my powers so many years ago is taking them from me.'

'Did they say the reason?'

'Stephen said that the most likely reason is that a new avatar is going to appear in the world, a new true Spider Totem.' More silence. 'And… I'm going to die once it goes away completely.'

'How could… the radiation.'

'Yes, the radiation that changed the spider so many years ago. The only thing keeping it from killing me now are my powers, so once they go completely, I'll die.'

'Is there any way to…?'

'Both are trying methods to at least extend my life for at least a couple years or save me indefinitely. But things aren't good.'

'Peter…'

'I guess the reason I came here today was… to at least see my friend one last time before the end.'

'You know… I have one extra bottle there, for special occasions.' Matt got up from his chair. 'I was going to open it with Foggy, but he left us before I could do it. Want a bit?'

'Blue? That's a great one.' Peter's hazel eyes became moisty for a couple seconds. 'Thanks, Matty.'

'You welcome, Petey.'

* * *

'Fuck!' Nathan woke up suddenly with his whole body covered in cold sweat. 'Not again…'

For a couple of nights he was having nightmares that he couldn't recall. Only glimpses of it came to mind once he found himself awake and they vanished as quickly. Only the feeling of dread remained, as if a monster was lurking at him from the shadows, ready to strike at his neck.

'This is getting old real quick.' He looked at the window of his room, watching over the Brooklyn he knew and loved so much. 'Seriously…'

A picture framed at his working desk caught his eye, so he picked it up and looked at it for several minutes. In there, a woman with the same pitch black hair as him was laughing at the camera with the Eiffel Tower behind her. Her eyes were of a light brown like honey, something he didn't inherited from her but from the Senator, a dark blue like the night sea. Thankfully, he got nothing else from him and was like a male version of the woman in the picture: Isabela Walker, former police officer of the NYPD, born in Brazil and raised in New York by her uncles. She was the most beautiful woman Nathan had ever seen, which only made it harder to think he never saw her in person.

The serial killer known as the Sin Eater ended her life when he was too young. He never found out many details about the crime aside from Spider-Man capturing and crippling him for life. He disappeared after that, the custody given to the federal government. Her family never got the deserved justice as the murderer never saw a trial and only vanished in thin air.

For that reason Nathan admired Spider-Man. When the supposedly "true heroes" of the Supremes couldn't do a single thing, Parker did. While it's true that crimes involving powers decreased after the Stamford Act, the streets were still filled with them. And they simply went to the dark, where the government wouldn't be bothered to take care of them while there were cosmic and extraterrestrial threats.

He opened the window and felt the night air cooling his body, closing his eyes to enjoy the feeling to its fullest. For some reason, he had a strange feeling, as if a storm was being formed at the horizon, about to unleash its rage upon the world. All those nightmares he couldn't recall made him feel like that. He truly hoped it wouldn't be the case.

* * *

'Now…' Maximus the mad grinned as he looked at the Terrigen Bomb. 'Shall we begin?'


End file.
